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Hi there,
I just set up my aquarium maybe a month-2 months ago, and I'm noticing a good deal of algae now forming on the bottom of my tank in the rocks. How should I go about getting rid of it?

Plus, I'm not sure if my tank as cycled completely yet, and its been almost 2 months since my fish have been in the tank.. I have only been topping of the tank as well instead of doing any water changes.. any advice?

If you don't have any test kits you need to get some to test the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels in your water! Or you can take it to your LPS and they will most likely test it for you

-Josh

To start of with if the tank has not fully cycled yet there should be no fish in the tank unless they are starter fish.

Take a good water sample to your LFS and get them to do a "full" water peramiters test for you. When you have all the results post them, also with more info about your tank, size, filtration, water changes percentages and how often, and what else is in the tank.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Hi there,
I normally take my water stats, I just haven't done it in a week or two as it wasn't making any progress for a long while.. well now my results are as follows:

PH 5
Ammonia: High 5+
Nitrite: Between 2 and 5 on the test color chart
Nitrates: Between 5 and 10 ppm

I have had this take going through the cycling process since mid May.. at first it wasn't doing anything, the ammonia went up real high, but it took awhile for the nitrites to appear.. now they have rocketed and have done so for at least a week or two now.. no signs of nitrites or ammonia going down.. I have 5 fish in my tank, and they are hearty tetras from what I've read..I didn't realize that putting tetras were a problem because I didn't do my research before buying my fish, but they have survived for the 2 months which is a good thing I hope..otherwise, I would have only bought about 2-3 danios..but I don't want to get rid of them, and they seem to be living okay.
As suggested per this site, I quit doing water changes, I was doing them once a week (about 25% changing).. and instead of changing the water, I top it off.. I only top off around 12-20% a week as needed. I only feed my fish once a day, its a 10 gallon aquarium, it has a basic filtration system (the tank came as a tank) and I have been making sure the water being added is treated for chlorine.. now however, it has formed a lot of algae and I don't have an algae eater.. thats why I was wondering how to clear up the algae? Also, any signs of the cycling process getting toward the end?
Thanks everyone

It seems really odd that you are still trying to cycle the tank this long down the track.. your parameters should have 'stabilised' by now.

the ammonia does appear to have come down quite a bit and nitrites are appearing which are a good sign but personally i would think that you should have 0 ammonia and nitrites by now..

i suggest you take a sample of water as keith said to your LFS just in case your test kit isnt doing the job properly.

what filtration came with the tank package?

---

Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

On the box with my replacement filter cartridges it says its a 5-15 power filter.. I haven't changed any of that btw.. I know it seems really confusing.. I have however over the past week notice my nitrates level rising and thats supposed to be a sign as well isn't it? I took my water sample to the LFS up the street a week or so ago, and they told me basically the same readings as I already knew.. so they said to just keep monitoring the situation.. I just don't know if my tank will ever cycle as its been nearly 2 months.. any suggestions? Plus, I don't know about what to do about this algae situation..

nitrates rising is a good sign i just cant believe it would take this long to cycle a tank with fish in it..

i guess all i can say is hang in there and keep testing the water. i wouldnt change the filter cartridge as the good bacteria is starting to establish itself.

as for the algae if there is any on the glass invest in a magnetic cleaner which will come in handy for whenver the glass needs cleaning on the inside. i wouldnt stress to much about it on the gravel just yet wait until the tank has fully cycled then either invest in an algae eater or use a product which helps to remove it but i wouldnt recommnend adding any chemicals at the moment.

---

Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

As suggested per this site, I quit doing water changes, I was doing them once a week (about 25% changing).. and instead of changing the water, I top it off.. I only top off around 12-20% a week as needed.

This statement has got me thinking. I cannot ever remember seeing any thing like that,or hearing that in 35+ years of fish keeping, and I certainly would not recommened it for a fresh water tank.
Are you adding a Cycle product at each water change, also do you have a good airation system, finally do you have any live plants in the tank if so what do you have?

I always recomend a 30% weekly prepared water changes. The filter cleaning depends on the tank size and filter. My Eheim Pro11 canister is done monthly whereas the Betta tank is done weekly.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

keithgh, and renee,
I believe (if I remember correctly ) that the suggestion was specifically to be no water changes while cycling unless the fish needed it. If the tank is cycled water changes should most definatly be done on a weekly to biweekly schedule.

^_^

Hi,
In a cycling tank the ammonia can reach a 6 or more.
The Nitrite can reach a 10 or more.
The Nitrate level in a new tank will gradually climb.
When it reaches around a 40, it is time (past time I think)
for intervention IE., vacuuming the gravel and
water changes. Most planted tanks are kept around the
10-20 range.

If you are cycling with fish, there are all sorts of
products that you can (should) add to the water to help
the fish tolerate the rising and falling values.
Stress-Zime is one of them. Essentially, if you change the
water during the cycle you are prolonging the time frame
necessary to complete it, by diluting the "soup" so to
speak.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi Frank!
Thats what I remember.. not changing no water until my cycle is done changing.. and it doesn't seem like my tank is fully cycled yet.. but once the nitrates get to 40, its time to vacuum and start doing weekly water changes? How much should I change the water at that point, and then does the nitrites and ammonia levels go down to 0 after this point?
Thanks

Hi,
As long as the fish are healthy, and you are still showing
ammonia or nitrites, I would not change the water at all.
Everytime you change the water you dilute the system.
If, on the other hand, the fish appear in distress, not
eating, listless, gasping at the surface, just hanging in
one place, then Yes, I would do a water change of 20-30%.

Depending upon what you are adding to the water, the
ammonia will decrease to zero, and the nitrite will then
decrease to zero. Some of the recommended chemicals will
actually cause you to get an increase in ammonia as it
changes the chemical formula of the ammonia. This is called
a false positive. Read the labels to be sure.
The nitrates will climb to some level
depending upon what you have started, and maintained the
cycling process with (ammonia, fish, etc.)
When both the ammonia and nitrite read zero, then the
tank is cycled, and you can clean the gravel. Use something
like the Python brand siphon/gravel vacuum, and take out
say, 10-20% of the tank water cleaning the gravel while
draining, and then replace the water adding water
conditioner at the same time. The correct way to clean
the tank is to mentally divide the unplanted parts of the
tank into four sections and clean only one section with
each weekly tank maintenance session. Don't do a wholesale
cleaning of the tank gravel as that will weaken the
bacteria colonies.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi r&p! Algae grows best with lots of light. Is the tank located in direct sunlight? If so, if you can't relocate it, you'll need to block the sunlight. I'd also leave the light off for about a week, and then, get a plug timer for just the canopy light to be plugged into. Then time it so lights are only on 12 hrs. a day. The light is only there for your benefit, the fish don't need it. Don't be tempted to buy algae-cide/destroyer/tablets etc. Wild fish don't ingest that stuff and neither should yours. I would be changing 30% of the water though. Just change water for now, don't gravel vac yet, the gravel is where your biological filter lives. You may have to do water changes daily until things get stabilised. What species of fish do you have in there? I had cardinal tetras and they survived everything I did wrong when I first set up my aquarium. Keep us updated!

29g - 5 Head and Tail Light Tetras, 1 Black Phantom Tetra, 1 melanistius cory, 1 Featherfin Synodontis, 1 otto
29g - 14 harlequin rasboras, 5 albino corys, 3 ottos
10g - 1 glowlight tetra, 2 Black phantom tetras, 1 red betta on entertainment center

Okay.. I'm confused, so should I change the water now, or wait until its finished cycling? The fish eat okay and they don't seem stressed, they just don't swim as much as I would like them to, and I haven't taken any water out of the tank since shortly after I began cycling almost 2 months ago Let me know, and then I'll do what is suggested!
Thanks /:'

Hi "Confused"

Please don't be. While the tank is cycling, one generally
does not change the water. Provided.. That the fish in
the tank are acting, eating, and swimming, normally.

As the ammonia levels build, the bacteria that lives off
the ammonia will begin to appear and grow forming nitrite.
As those colonies begin to grow they make their presence
felt by lowering the ammonia levels while their
(the nitrite levels) start to increase. As the nitrite
levels start to rise the bacteria colonies that form
nitrate begin to appear and grow. As they grow and
multiply, the nitrite levels begin to drop off, and the
nitrate levels begin to rise. The ammonia is the fuel
that starts the cycling engine. You have to keep adding
some ammonia throughout the cycling of the tank either
by adding drops of ammonia (if fish-less cycling) or by
maintaining the fish in the tank by feeding them just
enough food so that it does not lay on the bottom and
rot.
If you change the water during the cycling period then
you are diluting the water with fresh water and that can
extend the cycling period into months instead of just
weeks. If you have goofed up the cycling, then yes, you
would have to dilute the tank water by water changes.
However, I would key on the behavior of the fish.
If they are OK, then I would leave well enough alone.

Once the tank has cycled... the ammonia and nitrites
are both zero, and you can start the normal weekly water
changes of say, 10% a week. I'd wait a week or two after
the initial regular water changes to begin also cleaning
(vacuuming) the gravel. Only vacuum a section of the
gravel at a time. If you wholesale vacuum the gravel you
could damage the bacterial colonies and cause what we call
a "mini-cycle" of the tank all over again.

Now the fly in the ointment...
IF you are adding water additives such as Ammo-lock,
these will alter the chemical formula of the ammonia.
It binds up the ammonia molecule and will give you a
false reading, actually a higher reading of ammonia
than is actually the case.
The reagents in the test strips or the liquids in
the test kits think that they are seeing higher levels of
ammonia than there actually is, and of course, the
beginner panics and immediately does water changes when
in fact, they are not necessary. Read the bottle and
see. If it does tend to give a higher reading for ammonia
it should say so on the bottle or the pamphlet that comes
with it.

Hope this helps...
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--